Psalm 73
1 Truly God is good to His people, Israel,
to those with pure hearts.
2 Though I know this is true, I almost lost my footing;
yes, my steps were on slippery ground.
3 You see, there was a time when I envied arrogant men
and thought, “The wicked look pretty happy to me.”
to those with pure hearts.
2 Though I know this is true, I almost lost my footing;
yes, my steps were on slippery ground.
3 You see, there was a time when I envied arrogant men
and thought, “The wicked look pretty happy to me.”
When I read this yesterday it struck me. The entire verse was pretty much the conversation I had been having with God. I was letting comparisons, anger, bitterness, resentment all that, start to overshadow what I know and begin to take hold of me.
11 You will hear them say, “How can the True God possibly know anyway? He’s not even here.
So how can the Most High have any knowledge of what happens here?”
12 Let me tell you what I know about the wicked:
they are comfortably at rest while their wealth is growing and growing.
13 Oh, let this not be me! It seems I have scrubbed my heart to keep it clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
And for what? Nothing.
14 For all day long, I am being punished,
each day awakening to stern chastisement.
So how can the Most High have any knowledge of what happens here?”
12 Let me tell you what I know about the wicked:
they are comfortably at rest while their wealth is growing and growing.
13 Oh, let this not be me! It seems I have scrubbed my heart to keep it clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
And for what? Nothing.
14 For all day long, I am being punished,
each day awakening to stern chastisement.
I just could not wrap my mind around it. Why Lord? When Lord? How come Lord?
15 If I had said to others these kinds of things about the plight of God’s good people,
then I know I would have betrayed the next generation.
16 Trying to solve this mystery on my own exhausted me;
I couldn’t bear to look at it any further.
17 So I took my questions to the True God,
and in His sanctuary I realized something so chilling and final: their lives have a deadly end.
18 Because You have certainly set the wicked upon a slippery slope,
You’ve set them up to slide to their destruction.
then I know I would have betrayed the next generation.
16 Trying to solve this mystery on my own exhausted me;
I couldn’t bear to look at it any further.
17 So I took my questions to the True God,
and in His sanctuary I realized something so chilling and final: their lives have a deadly end.
18 Because You have certainly set the wicked upon a slippery slope,
You’ve set them up to slide to their destruction.
It doesn't really matter why or how or when or what. I know I can't live apart from Him again. It's not in me. And I am also beginning to notice something too. He restores little by little. Why? For me, I believe that if He heaped it all up on me all at once, I might be sorely tempted to forget, to settle, to take the easy road AGAIN. And so on this beautiful foundation He has set in me, He brings up the structure of what will be my life, of what is to come. I just have to take one day at a time, living in what I have now, taking each day, each blessing and letting it settle in, letting it become a part of this new place and then moving forward.
22 But I didn’t know the truth;
I have been acting like a stupid animal toward You.
23 But look at this: You are still holding my right hand;
You have been all along.
24 Even though I was angry and hard-hearted, You gave me good advice;
when it’s all over, You will receive me into Your glory.
25 For all my wanting, I don’t have anyone but You in heaven.
There is nothing on earth that I desire other than You.
26 I admit how broken I am in body and spirit,
but God is my strength, and He will be mine forever.
I have been acting like a stupid animal toward You.
23 But look at this: You are still holding my right hand;
You have been all along.
24 Even though I was angry and hard-hearted, You gave me good advice;
when it’s all over, You will receive me into Your glory.
25 For all my wanting, I don’t have anyone but You in heaven.
There is nothing on earth that I desire other than You.
26 I admit how broken I am in body and spirit,
but God is my strength, and He will be mine forever.
If what I have is apart from God, well then, it's never going to be worth it. Because in the end, He's all we've got anyways. What will matter truly is, did I do what He placed me here to do? Did I use His time and mine being jealous and greedy and envious and boastful about stuff instead of investing in those who needed to know who He is? I'll admit I have wasted more time than I have actually obeyed....I've acted like a spoiled child...a stupid animal....to the God that loves me and wants so much for me, but also expects me to show that to those He has placed around me. Yet in spite of it all, He loves me. He holds my hand, waits patiently...says begin again :) And so we do...together, He and I. Thankful.
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